Filipinas better going to qualifiers

Philippine women’s football team in the Asian Games. –PWNT/PFF

Coach Mark Torcaso believes there’s plenty of benefit from the Filipinas’ campaign in the Hangzhou Asian Games, knowing that the squad will only become better going into the second round of the Olympic Qualifiers later this month.

“We had a unique opportunity of working with the players in a tournament prior to the Olympic Qualifiers. And that’s the one thing that we are happy with,” Torcaso said Sunday, a day after the Philippine women’s football team was eliminated by Japan, 8-1, in the quarterfinals of the continental meet.

Their exit was not pleasing in terms of the scoreline, but gaining the needed familiarity with his team, Torcaso is now setting up a plan for the Filipinas to progress in the next phase of the qualification for next year’s Paris Olympics.

The Filipinas will be in Perth, Australia later this month where they face the host nation, Chinese Taipei and Iran in Group A. There, they’ll need to emerge as the group’s top team or become the best second placer to reach the final round of the qualifiers.

Torcaso will have plenty of players to choose from as those who either skipped the Asian Games or had to discontinue the Hangzhou stint due to club commitments are expected to be available to don the national team shirt Down Under.

“We took a lot of findings from this competition and that’s what it’s all about,” said Torcaso. “It would be really hard to come into a competition going into the Olympic Qualifiers without having this opportunity to play [in the Asian Games].